. Jonah 4:6-7 = Made bush grow to give shade, then had worm kill it Bush Notes: Probably Elkeroa - Common shrub in Palestine, grows in sandy places Broad vine-like leaves with dense shadow Grows very quickly in matter of days How did this affect Jonah? As a result of his rebellion, the Lord sent a wild storm. God grew a vine to shelter Jonah from the sun, then sent a worm to chew it up. acquire the The Prodigal Prophet Jonah And The Mystery Of God member that we present here and check out the link. 14. Thank you. DLTK's Sunday School Lessons Men of the Old Testament Pt 1: Jonah. They are just nothing but mere pretension. Six Signs We Need to Return to God, Jonah 1. The Book of Jonah is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament.The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, but tries to escape this divine mission.. We could be in the church, but our heart is not in the church. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. He gets on the boat and flees Jerusalem. Instead of punishing Jonah for his disrespect, Jehovah simply asked him one gentle, probing question: Have you rightly become hot with anger? (Jonah 4:4) Did Jonah even answer? That warning was based on the Ninevites bad ways, which subsequently changed. He was then swallowed by a huge fish - his transport to Nineveh. I dont select the ads displayed here but generated by advertising software. (a)How does Jehovah show that he is reasonable, adaptable, and merciful? Registered in England and Wales 5090917, Christian Today, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN, Southern Baptists oust Rick Warren's Saddleback Church for naming a female pastor, Evangelical church pursues alternative oversight after CofE same-sex blessing vote, 'Jesus Revolution' leaves out the tough stuff but gets the music right. Learning to show mercy is often difficult for imperfect humans. In his heart of hearts, he knew that they deserve nothing but punishment and death. Rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old were all caught up in the same repentant spirit. A bad storm happens and Jonah actually has the courage to let everyone know its his fault because hes running away from God. When thinking about this book as a whole, and what God is trying to teach Jonah, what does this mean for us. (6) When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. . However, Jehovah wanted to do more for Jonah than simply deliver him from the heat and from his own petulant anger. While the theme of Gods sovereignty and Gods grace is, indeed, the predominant storyline of Jonah, the book is certainly not merely metaphorical. But the Lord is also working with Jonah trying to get him to see the value of every soul, not just the Israelites. What quality had Jehovah shown toward Jonah, yet what question arises? He tried to run away from the presence of God, and enjoy himself. He would also know that if he disobeyed the commands of the Lord, he would bring down the wrath of God on himself. (Read Matthew 12:41.) God who dearly loves his children also has a special mode of correction for his children. The paper was a bible page of jonah and these readings. Kia Ora Gramps.Could you please help to understand what lesson the Lord wanted to teach Jonah about the Gourd and the Worm? As Jonah obeys God the people of Nineveh believe God's message and repent. it helps to pay the bills and keeps this website running. Prophet Jonah disobeyed God and attempted to escape, but God caught him red-handedly. Confinement, Communion, and Confession, Jonah 2. The minor prophet, Jonah, takes place when Nineveh, that great city, was the largest city on the face of the earth. It is an astounding admission of the true nature of Gods covenant given to Abraham. It is the book itself. Let us go to Jonah 1:1 brethren. God often only tells us what we can handle at the time. He knew, because of Gods incredible and unfathomable deep level of mercy, He would forgive them if they repent! Could you imagine how many times you would hear your kids say. The book of Jonah exactly shows us the unlimited Mercy of God. But did He? 17 Unbelievable Bible Secrets No One Has Ever Told You, 12 Unspoken Reasons Why You Should Not Use the New International Version (NIV) Bible, 5 Powerful and Vital Lessons from the Life of Samson, What Does it Mean to Put your Hand on the Plow and Look Back? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. At any rate, his message was simple and not likely to win him any favor: Only forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown. (Jonah 3:4) He spoke out boldly and repeatedly. - Acts 20:24b Props: One Ziploc bag with a fresh piece of Play-doh inside; Second piece of Play-doh that is dried out, in no particular shape; an extra ziplock bag. When we begin to reduce Gods response to human sin as judgment without mercy, then it is time for us to open up the book of Jonah, and invite the Spirit of the Lord to cleanse us of self-interests, smugness, and uncaring attitudes and return to the Lord of love. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. The Bible states that the Lord had Jonah caught by a giant fish for three days and then vomit him up (presumably near Nineveh). So, I hope my Bible study on Jonah encourages you to take a second look at Jonah. Not all of his prophecies are recorded, but one of his major predictions was that the northern kingdom would have peace from its enemies to the North (this was fulfilled later in the reign of Jeroboam II). Jonah admits that he worships the God of heaven and earth and that right now, he is fleeing from God's direct command. If anything, it will just have negative effects on us and the people around us! Jonah knew what the Assyrians were capable of doing. 7,8. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. It may be that Jonah made his proclamation in his native Hebrew and used an interpreter to relate it to the Ninevites. And that response is nestled within the greater framework of Gods plan for the ages: from Paradise Lost(Milton, 1667) to Paradise Regained (Milton, 1671). Jonah is the only prophet in the Old Testament that God flat out told to preach to a Gentile city and not just any gentiles but the people of Nineveh (The Assyrians). I hope these 5 keys have made you hungry to dive more into Gods word. What Does It Mean to Wait on the Lord? Sign up for my newsletter and you will receive the Jonah character overview. Perhaps he still clung to the hope of witnessing her destruction. Read More, 3 Important Ways to Pray for Your Future Husband. Covenantal-snobbery was, and can still be, a serious problem with Gods people. Now, here was Jonah, a man who perfectly knew who the Ninevites were. We read: Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." Yahweh has given Jonah a job that he needs to accomplish. The story is probably written between the 8th and 3th century BC. For built into Jonah's first attempts to get away from God are two results which will inevitably follow whenever anyone tries to disobey Him. Amen. | Now that we had a short summarylets get down to business! The word for the English, loving kindness in the text is the Hebrew, hesed. Hesed is the word used repeatedly throughout the Old Testament to describe Gods loyal love, His self-sworn obligation to love Israel, and to provide what Israel lacked (viz., sacrifice for sin and a holy life). He mentions one in particular: Far-called, our navies melt away;On dune and headland sinks the fire:Lo, all our pomp of yesterdayIs one with Nineveh and Tyre! You see, evidence indicates that Jonah wrote the book bearing his name. So when the Lord told Jonah that Nineveh was wicked and ripe for destruction, it would be easy to see why Jonah would be pleased by this; and why he would be less pleased to be called by the Lord to call the city of Nineveh to repentance. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?'" . These are only 5 thingsthere are more! Jonah would not weep over a people who came close to destruction, but "Jesus, the true prophet, did.". He sent a mighty storm while Jonah's ship was at sea, and the storm endangered the lives of everybody. In fact, the narrator uses the same grammatical structure as in Jonah 4:1. Jonah meets big fish, big fish eats him, Jonah decides if he gets out of fish alive he'll do what God says, fish throws up, and out comes a very stinky Jonah. Short little Melissa style summary and insight: *If you are not familiar with the story of Jonahspend some time reading it. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. God didn't give up on Jonah. On the contrary, he is reasonable, adaptable, and merciful. Though Jonah ran away from God, God wasn't finished with him yet. No; it fulfilled its purpose as a warning. Image what they would be thinking when he started telling them that God had a message for them, and they needed to repent or be destroyed. 2:13-15. To know he answers my prayers? Sometimes we learn lessons the hard way because we don't always do things God's way. PRIVACY POLICY Nahum 3:1-4 gives us an idea of just how wicked the people of Nineveh were: "Woe to the bloody city! Jonah repented while in the belly of a fish; God heard his voice and saved him. But have you thought of what you also deserve? God loves us as much as He loves the people outside of the church. But the plant wasn't an act of divine mercy it was part of a divine lesson. Why would they do that? Thank you, Jesus! She has the heart to equip the saints by helping them get into the Word of God and fall more in love with Jesus. We stop there and think of it as a fun story especially for childrens church. Rather than the story being only about Nineveh, or about God's message, all of the lessons seem to be centered in the person of Jonah. "Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. Its only 4 short chapters. (b)How did Jehovah deal with his distressed prophet? God chose Jonah to go to the Ninevites and tell them that unless they turned from their wicked ways they would face God's punishment. If you look into history, Nineveh became the capital of the Assyrian Empire and has eventually conquered Israel and drove them into slavery. But Nineveh was a very wicked city. Thats it. What does the story of Jonah and the whale teach us? God is eager to see the wicked repent and change their ways, as the Ninevites did. Yes, that means precisely what it says: Jonah was preferring death over the advance of Gods grace to Nineveh. He is, now, angry that God has forgiven them. News of this popular movement soon reached the ears of the king. 22 The question is, Did Jonah take the lesson to heart? How did Jehovah reason with Jonah about the bottle-gourd plant? We cannot know all that went through his mind, but we do know that Jonah had proclaimed doom to Nineveh before all those people. (b)Why can we be sure that Jehovahs judgment was not in error? In its heyday, Nineveh may have been the largest city in the world. Jonah's preaching was quite short, and he probably wasn't enthusiastic when he preached it: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" The issue in the book of Jonah causes each of us to reflect on this truth: those who curse Christ today could be those who preach Christ tomorrow. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,AndYou heard my voice. Jonah would have to travel this by horse/camel. We learned here that both Socratic teaching and rabbinical teaching (by asking questions) was used by God long before educators ever thought about such things. 1. "Lest we forget lest we forget!". God knows the future - Isaiah 46:10. The truth is that mans sin has a devastating effect upon creation. (a)How was Jonah evidently affected by Jehovahs wise instruction about mercy? Are we there yet? God have mercy! This was at least part of the reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh - he was afraid they would repent, when all along he wanted God to judge the Assyrian capital. He was a prophet in a nation he is proud of. Rather Jonah became a reluctant prophet because he knew God's grace would overwhelm Israel's enemy. For, Jonah, its an insult to Israel. We know as a fact for Jonah records his prayer, not a petition that flatters its supplicant: So he prayed to the LORD, and said, Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? He sent a worm to attack and kill the plant. I am currently in a RCIA to becoming catholic. He could have detested and hated these people. As the days passed, he thought about the destination that he so dreaded, the city that drew closer with each step he tookNineveh. (John 4:11). Jonah is mad at the Lord, so the Lord tried to teach him. As we saw in the preceding chapter, Jehovah patiently taught Jonah by means of a windstorm at sea and a miraculous rescue involving a huge fish. Some may believe that Jehovah should have prevented a tragedy or that he should have executed swift judgment against the wicked or even that he should have brought an end to this whole world system of things before now. And when God did not destroy Nineveh, Jonah became angry. I am so grateful for technology. The 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, are likely infants. His words spread like wildfire. 21 Do you see the depth of Jehovahs object lesson? The result, however, was nothing short of amazing. 17 The despondent prophet left Nineveh and headed, not home, but eastward, where some mountains overlooked the region. Jonah; Micah . Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. He was to call Nineveh to repentance. His failure would have resulted in the destruction of Nineveh by the Lord due to their wickedness. After God delivered him, Jonah traveled to Nineveh and prophesied that the Lord would destroy the city because of its wickedness. Yes, that. Based on what happened to Jonah's life, we can simply conclude that there's no point in trying to run away from God, from running away from His purposes, and in trying to achieve our own will and not His. Jonah, of course, tells God, it aint going to happen! and runs away in the polar opposite direction of Ninevah. It has spiritual ramifications that affects both our spiritual life, and daily life. Instead, something remarkable happened. In doing so, he showed remarkable courage and faith, qualities that Christians today need more than ever. It is important to note that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was at odds with Assyria and Ninevah was a great city in Assyria. The story of Jonah was a popular tale in Jesus' time. The mission of God is a guaranteed success because of the sovereignty of God. By so doing, the Lord is showing Jonah that his priorities are more then a bit messed up. Should the Ninevites resume their wicked ways, God would bring the same judgment against them. Sep 5, 2014 | AAAA AskGramps Website, Bible | 3 comments. 2) That there's no point in striving to achieve something that isn't God's will. Because more than anything else, He also wanted to help Jonah see his faults, repent of his selfishness, and change his ways. i. He sovereignly orchestrates creation by appointing it to do his will. But none of these factors made the city important to Jehovah God. So great was this monumental world capital that considerable remnants of Nineveh remain to this day. Some critics might complain that Jonah never answers. 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